Things To Do In Tokyo When You're Dead
by Mynuet
Summary: Kikyo finds out about the well... (Winner of the IYFanGuild Oct 2002 Award for Best Alt Pairing [Kikyo/Hojo])
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

Things To Do In Tokyo When You're Dead  
  
by Sharlene  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
There's something about that well.  
  
I hid there for two days, watching and biding my time. The girl went in and did not come out, and Inuyasha went after her. Just when I had decided to follow them, they came out of the well, arguing. The girl was wearing different clothes and her pack was bigger than it had been when she went in. I felt something float to the surface of my consciousness that I hadn't felt for a long time. It took me a moment to identify it as curiosity.  
  
I waited until they were out of sight, not wanting to confront them before I found out the secret behind their disappearance. From the top, it looked as it always had. It persistently and defiantly went on looking like a deep, dry hole in the ground as I stared into it and thought. Finally I decided to go in and see if I could see anything from the bottom.  
  
I knew it was a mistake as soon as my feet touched where the bottom should have been. I found myself floating in a hazy sea of color and movement. My snake demon servants fell away and I was alone, screaming as each soul that I held was torn from me. The pain was unbearable, but continued as I fell for an eternity.  
  
Just before I felt I would die, mad from fright and pain, it stopped and I looked up into a pair of dark eyes. "I- Inuyasha?" I had always pictured this was how his human face would look. Could I have taken him with me to heaven instead of hell? My mind shut down and the last thing I heard was his voice, saying "Higurashi-san?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I opened my eyes to the feeling of a cool, damp cloth being drawn over my forehead. A pair of eyes that were as rich a brown as freshly turned earth twinkled at me as I tried to make sense of the situation. "So you're awake! I was hoping you would be okay." I sat up without speaking, trying to remember where I was and what had happened.  
  
An unholy noise came from the boy's wrist, and I felt myself flinch. He flushed and pushed at a black band around his wrist. Mercifully, the noise stopped. "Sorry about that, I've got my alarm set so that I'm not late for school and I forgot."  
  
I looked around and saw that we were not at the small building that had enclosed the well I came out of. This was obviously a room within a home, but the furnishings were alien to me. I was sitting on a bed that rested on a wooden framework and was softer than any I had ever known. There were strange portraits of women dressed in outrageous clothes on the walls, and there were clothes scattered on nearly every surface. The only clear spot in the room besides the bed I rested on was a table which had paper, ink and pens arranged on its surface. Even from here, I could see a lovingly rendered sketch of my copy awaiting the final touches.  
  
I turned back to the boy. "This is where you live?"  
  
He nodded, seeming like a puppy in his enthusiasm. "No one was home at the Higurashi shrine, and the hospital's emergency room was full, so I brought you here." I pushed off the sheet that covered me, cursing the jerkiness of my movements. I would have to gather more souls soon. I hated it, hated feeling like the kind of demon I had once reviled, but I hated not being able to move with ease more. I had a purpose, and nothing could be allowed to get in my way. If I once backed down, I would have less than nothing. I would be nothing.  
  
I swayed as I stood and felt the boy's arms come around me as he tried to ease me back onto the bed. "Please, rest a little longer, Miss. The doctor should be here soon, and he will know what to do to help you."  
  
I could feel the corners of my mouth turn up in a bitter smile. "Not even the greatest of healers can help someone with no pulse. I must go." I stood quickly.  
  
Too quickly. The boy caught me before I fell to the ground, and then froze, our faces only inches apart. He smelled like a forest, a mixture of musk and pine that reminded me of Inuyasha while being nothing like him. The only time I had ever been this close to a male was when I had stumbled and fallen into Inuyasha's arms, and that had felt completely different. I had yearned for him that day, wishing more than anything that he would kiss me. He hadn't, and I had cried myself to sleep that night because I hadn't been courageous enough to kiss him.  
  
After a frozen moment, the boy flushed and helped me gently but firmly back to the bed. "You must not over exert yourself. Girls as delicate and pretty as you must take care of themselves." He turned away to fuss with something on the drawing table, and I saw the tips of his ears turn bright red as he arranged the pens in very precise rows. I wondered what cruelty of fate had dictated that my first genuine compliment should come from this boy who looked so much like my vision of a human Inuyasha. That it was so close to my dreams and yet so far removed was like a dagger in my heart.  
  
"Boy." I did not attempt to stand again, but called his attention away from his task. "Boy, I must return to the well. I do not wish to wait for this doctor of yours."  
  
A frown drew his features together and my mouth fell open. His resemblance to my vision of Inuyasha was truly uncanny. "My name is Hojo, and I do not believe you should go that far. You were so deeply unconscious that I could not wake you." He picked up the cloth he had been using earlier and dipped it into a bowl of water. "If you insist on going, I will go with you, but I think it's best for you to rest."  
  
"I am a healer, and I know I will not be helped by your doctor." This time when I stood, I kept my balance, although it cost a tremendous effort of will. "You need not accompany me, but I will return now."  
  
He did not look happy, but he nodded and held his arm out. "Please allow me to assist your walking, Miss." I nodded and rested a hand on his arm, allowing him to lead me out of his strange room into an even stranger outdoors.  
  
The first assault to my senses was the smell. There was an acrid burning smell hanging in the air that made me think walking behind oxen in a cabbage field would almost be pleasant in comparison. There were roars and shouts and I stopped, wondering what calamity was befalling the world that there should be so much noise.  
  
I must have said something aloud. The boy, Hojo, looked at me quizzically, then smiled. "You must be from the countryside, where everything is quieter and there aren't that many cars around. I wish that I could live out there, as well, but my mother wants me to go to the high school here so I can be a doctor." He grimaced before pausing to allow a tremendous metal box to pass by in front of us. "I'm sure it's a fine profession, but I'm afraid my talents don't run in that direction. I tried reading up on Higurashi-san's illnesses, but none of it made sense to me."  
  
I wondered if he ever stopped talking, once he started. I wasn't sure if I disliked it or not. It was certainly different from Inuyasha, who was capable of spending hours sitting beside me but saying nothing. I let him continue talking, concentrating on walking without the assistance of my snake demon pets. I tried not to look around at this foreign world I found myself in. After I had returned to my world, I would consider what I had learned.  
  
Only when we returned to the well, it did not let me through. I would have welcomed the pain if it had meant returning to the familiar, but nothing happened. I felt tears leaking from my eyes as I drew myself together. A miko should not show weakness. A miko must be an example to others, a living goddess who must not show any signs of lesser human emotions. My mother had taught me this, long ago, and I knew it to be true. My mother had died from the sickness which consumes the flesh from within and not once had she shown a sign of illness or pain or fear. I could not do less. I must be strong.  
  
"Miss? Is everything all right?" The boy's face appeared over the edge of the well, looking at me quizzically. "Did you lose something down there?"  
  
I could not speak. Had I lost something? What have I not lost? I have lost my mother, my sister, my love, my home, my soul and my life. All I have left is my vengeance. I shut my eyes against a wave of despair that even that was being denied to me by the accursed magic that brought me to this strange place and time.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
And, that's the setup. I've got a couple of ideas for what should happen with Kikyo and Hojo adventuring in modern Tokyo, or at least a gaijin's clueless idea of Tokyo, but I could use some suggestions, and some reassurance that someone besides me wants to read it.  
  
And special thanks and a gold star to Martina for the new title! I like it a lot better. As a note for Kota-Magic and Penguin-chan, Kikyo never got to see the human Inuyasha, so she only imagined what he would look like without his silver hair and adorable doggie ears. What she imagined looked a lot like Hojo for some reason which I'm not revealing yet. Yet. 


	2. Mama Knows Best

"Hello? Kagome?" A voice called from above as I felt the boy's hands close over my shoulders. I opened my eyes, ashamed of having shown weakness, only see him smile kindly. He whispered that it would be all right, and then we both looked up to see a face peering over the side.  
  
"Oh!" The face belonged to a woman with smooth skin who somehow still gave an impression of age and maturity. Her hair was short and curled around her face, and looked so much like my mother that it would have taken my breath away if I had any. "Hojo-kun, she looks a bit faint, could you please bring her inside the house?"  
  
"Right away, Mrs. Higurashi." Apparently I was not going to be consulted on this, as the boy picked me up and started climbing the ladder awkwardly. I started to move out of his grasp, but he said, with that disgustingly ever present good naturedness, "Miss, it would hurt both of us if we fall. Please, put your arms around my neck and let me carry you."  
  
It was odd. I don't think I had ever been as close to a human being before. I was stiff in his arms, in part because of the limitations of my clay body and in part because I did not know how to act. His hair was light, and curled in towards his face. Since I was so close, I could see a tiny patch of skin near his ear that had been missed when he shaved. It was tiny, the golden hairs barely needing the attention of a razor, but it fascinated me. I wanted to touch it, and the thought made me scold myself fiercely.  
  
The woman seemed somewhat breathless as the boy, Hojo, put me down. "You must be Kikyo, come for a visit."  
  
To say that I was shocked would be an understatement of such proportions to be ludicrous. I stumbled, and both of my companions leapt forward to prevent my fall. Once assured that the woman's hold of me was steady, the boy stepped back respectfully and asked if there was anything further he could do. The woman darted an amiably inscrutable look at my face before turning to the boy and smiling. "Thank you very much, Hojo-kun, but I would like to get our Kikyo settled in, since it seems that her journey was most fatiguing. I'm grateful you were here for her."  
  
He bowed slightly, blood flushing his cheeks as her warm smile engulfed him. "I am very glad I was able to help in some small way, and would not presume to intrude on your family. Please, let me know if there's anything else I can for you or your family, Mrs. Higurashi."  
  
We watched him go, pausing just before he went out of sight to wave back to us. The woman smiled and waved at him before turning to me. "He's such a nice boy." She didn't seem to expect a response, or want one, as she then started chattering while supporting my weight and walking into the house. "It's so exciting to meet you, dear, since I know so much about you. Kagome admires you greatly, of course, despite the, um, romantic issues, but then, I also used to read about you in the shrine history when I was a young girl."  
  
I could feel my body weakening, my joints becoming more and more like baked clay. "I must go back."  
  
She frowned slightly, and the lines of her face indicated that this wasn't a familiar expression for her. "I wish that you could, but I would think that the reason you were at the well was because you couldn't get through, which means you will have to remain until it does."  
  
I didn't say anything. She was right, and I should be grateful for her generosity in opening her home to me. I would thank her, once I could conquer my terror enough to do so gracefully.  
  
Her eyes softened and she reached out to pat my hand. "This must be terribly trying for you. Would you like to rest? I can show you to Kagome's room and you can lie down for a while. Do you eat? I could bring you up some warm milk, or some tea."  
  
I felt my lips curve into a smile I knew to be cruel, even as I couldn't help it. "The sustenance I require is of another sort." I concentrated, calling for soul gatherers to come to me. The sight of my snake-like youkai servants had frightened many humans, and for some reason I wanted to frighten Kagome's mother, instill in her the hatred that my bitter rivalry with her daughter should have ensured. Instead, when a somewhat puny shikigami appeared, the wretchedly cheerful woman just continued to smile. As it twined around my body, I said abruptly, "I must go to where there are young girls dying."  
  
Something flickered in her eyes and was gone before I could identify it. I had met many enigmatic people in my lifetime and deathtime, but I had never met anyone as truly inscrutable as this woman. "Yes, of course. There is something that you can be of help with."  
  
We went back into the din of the outside world, although this time I was better prepared for it. In short order we were inside one of the rushing metal contraptions, inside of which was a man who looked at my attire and my pet curiously, but did not comment. I looked at him and thought that someone with such colorful hair and wearing such shiny cloth had no business gawking. In short order we were in front of the tallest building I had ever seen, which the woman called a "hospital".  
  
It did not take long to determine that this was a place for sick people, although in some cases it seemed what was making them sick was being in this place. Friendly greetings were called out to "Higurashi-san", and she said, "I've been a nurse here for many years. That's how I'm able to bring you where we're going."  
  
We walked through endless hallways, my steps slow as my one pet slithered around me and helped support my awkward movements. Finally we came to a private room, where a pale girl was lying on the bed, her black hair fanned over a pillow. Her form was thin, and there were tubes and wires connected to her and to boxes that hummed and beeped and blinked with colored lights. I couldn't keep from reaching out, the instinct of a healer too strong. "This girl... Her soul is in pain."  
  
The woman nodded as she tenderly brushed the hair away from the girl's face. "She was in an accident six months ago and died on the way to the hospital. She was brought back to life in the emergency room, but she went into a coma and has never come out of it. Her family is wealthy, and so she receives the best of care; but... I've always sensed her unhappiness. I'm not a strong enough miko to do anything that would give her ease, but perhaps you are."  
  
The shikigami floated over the girl and I saw that her soul hovered just above her body, tethered to it but trying to escape. I knew that I could allow my pet to harvest her soul and thus end her suffering, but somehow, despite the bizarre nature of the situation, the thought that I might disappoint my rival's mother bothered me. I stepped closer to the bed and closed my eyes, calling upon my early training to try to find enough peace inside myself to communicate with the girl's trapped soul. I reached for her hand and felt a jolt run through me like lightning as the world faded to a haze that contained nothing but her voice and mine.  
  
\You are Death, which I have been denied!\ /No. I am a miko, and I wish to help restore you to life./ \But I want to die! I should have died, I was dead! I don't belong in the land of the living, and it hurts. My new incarnation is soulless, and it can't live much longer! Time is running out, I need...I need...\  
  
The haze wrapped around me, grasping and clutching in a desperate hold. I gasped and tried to pull away as I felt my soul, my self being drawn into her body. She fought, and it felt like claws were tearing at me, sapping my strength and dragging me down, down, leaden weights poisoning my blood and forcing me to take her place on that bed as alarms shrilled and Higurashi-san held my body up by the shoulders.  
  
  
  
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Yep, I finally updated. And yes, I realize I'm evil for ending there. I'm considering having "Sharlene, the Evil" embroidered on my hankies. Wild speculations about what will happen next are highly encouraged, as are general comments - although there is to be absolutely NO thwapping of the author. So, please, let me know that you're out there reading so that I don't feel like I'm writing this just for me and thus shove it on the back burner. Thanks to Sango-sama and Monki-chan for a quick'n'dirty readthrough before I posted this - if I don't have someone to read it in advance, I feel like I'm going to post and have everybody review with "you SUCK!". 


End file.
